Six seasonal decorating tips you can use year-round

Limiting color schemes, adding greenery and rearranging furniture all help

Like Christmas trees, houseplants add texture and life to rooms.T. Rob BrownSpecial to The Star

During November and December, decorating fervor sweeps through houses as people prepare for the season. Furniture is displaced to make room for a tree, mantels and staircases are draped with greenery, and homes are illuminated with strings of twinkling lights.

The winter holidays unleash a commitment to tradition and, for many, strong decorating convictions. People know how they want their homes to look for Christmas. If only everyone were as decisive about decorating the rest of the year.

The same person who has no problem deciding where to put a Christmas tree can become paralyzed when trying to place a new bed. My remedy for such uncertainty is to channel holiday behavior.

Follow these six decorating principles — all ones you probably practiced as you readied your home for the season — throughout the rest of the year and your rooms will undoubtedly be merry, bright and full of joy.

1. Limit your color scheme.You probably trimmed your house for the winter with two, maybe three colors at most. Limiting your color palette in all your decorating endeavors not only makes the process easier because you narrow down your choices, it also makes your rooms flow better.

It can be jarring to go from a red room to a green room to a turquoise room and then to a fuchsia room. It’s better to stick to a few colors and vary their shade from one room to the next.

2. Rearrange your furniture from time to time.Most of us have to shift furniture around to accommodate a big spruce Christmas tree.

Although it’s a hassle, the change is good. We all get too set in our ways or lazy and forget that a different furniture arrangement can give a room a fresh look.

3. Always have something green or natural in your rooms.The pleasure many of us get from having a fresh evergreen tree indoors (the smell alone!) is worth the nuisance of regularly watering it and dealing with the messy fallen needles when we forget.

Something green adds texture, scent and life to your rooms.

4. Rely mostly on ambient light.Everyone I know loves sitting in a room illuminated only by the glow of a well-lit Christmas tree. I am not advocating that you do away with all overhead lighting, but I do think that rooms (and people) look better in less-harsh lighting.

In general, opt for strategically placed table and floor lamps throughout your rooms, use candlelight when appropriate and limit overhead lighting to bathrooms, laundry rooms and kitchens.

5. Buy what you love.When you buy Christmas ornaments, you don’t buy them because they are modern or traditional; you buy them because they speak to you. Perhaps they remind you of a moment in time, a place or a person.

The more you channel that gut feeling into your bigger decorating decisions, the more likely you are to love your rooms.

I have always maintained that the closer you come to loving every single thing about every object in your home, the more consistent the style of your home will be.

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